PATRICK'S PEOPLE: Lindsay Deringer will be the new Queen of the Nile

It’s the usual thing for royal crowns to be passed from parent to child, but it’s not that common in the Daughters of the Nile.

By NIKKI PATRICK

Morning Sun

By NIKKI PATRICK

Posted Apr. 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 11, 2013 at 10:12 AM

By NIKKI PATRICK

Posted Apr 11, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 11, 2013 at 10:12 AM

FRONTENAC

It’s the usual thing for royal crowns to be passed from parent to child, but it’s not that common in the Daughters of the Nile.

“I’m the only one I know of that’s had a daughter follow her as queen,” said Diana Mason, Frontenac, soon to be junior past queen of Azrim Temple No. 81, Daughters of the Nile.

Her daughter, Lindsay Deringer, Frontenac, will be installed as Azrim’s 67th queen in public ceremonies at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Mirza Shrine Center, 110 W. Fifth.

Celebrating its centennial this year, Daughters of the Nile is a benevolent international fraternal organization for women who are related by birth or marriage to a Shriner, Master Mason or Daughter of the Nile, or who is a majority member in good standing of a Masonic-related organization for girls.

Mason said she was urged to join Azrim Temple by a friend, Sheri Smith.

“I had been a Rainbow Girl, starting in Pittsburg and finishing up in Iola after we moved there,” she said. “I became a worthy advisor, and I really enjoyed it. I told my daughter I was going to join Daughters of the Nile, but I thought she might laugh at me.”

Mason was very pleasantly surprised.

“I told her that I wanted to join, too,” Deringer said. “I was in FCCLA, Key Club and National Honor Society in high school, and started volunteering as a Pink Lady in 2006 or 2007, but I missed all the volunteer work I’d been doing. That was the pull for me.”

Daughters of the Nile assists Shriners in their work with the Shriners’ orthopedic and burn centers. Nile members furnish funds to help purchase artificial limbs, braces, prosthetics and other needs of children who are patients in Shriner’s Hospitals.

Through the Daughters of the Nile Foundation and Canadian Trust, the organization contributes more than $1.5 mill each year to the Shriners Hospitals for children, to be used for the medical care and rehabilitation of children.

“We have monthly sewing days and we make quilts and bags for the children at the hospitals,” Deringer said. “When children leave the hospital, they get to take their quilts and their bags with them and keep them forever.”

Daughters of the Nile also provide toys, books, games and other educational and recreational items for the hospitalized youngsters.

“We also do fundraisers,” Deringer said. “We had a garage sale last year, and we took part in the Shrine’s Combine Derby at the Humboldt Speedway. It’s like a demolition derby, but with real farm combines instead of cars. The next one will be Sept. 21, and we might do that again.”

Originally from Pittsburg, Deringer attended school in Pittsburg and graduated from Pittsburg State University with a bachelor of science in biology. She is employed by AFIX Technologies, Inc., Pittsburg, and is a member of LifeTrack Christian Church, Frontenac.

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She and her husband, Jeremy Deringer, have two children, Mason and Rilynn.

“After I joined Daughters of the Nile in January of 2008, my husband joined the Shrine in May of 2010,” Deringer said.

She added that, with two small children, she and her husband appreciate that the Shrine and Daughters of the Nile have a lot of family-related activities as well.

Her sister, Amy Mason of Overland Park, is also a Nile member and will play a piano prelude at the beginning of the installation ceremony.

“I only know one other person who has both her daughters with her in Daughters of the Nile,” Mason said.

Sound of the gong will be given by Lois Robinson, Altamont. Introductions will be given by Mason, junior past queen, Frontenac.

Hostesses for the reception following the ceremony will be Patty LeFever and the CC Nile Club. There will be a “no-host” dinner at Chicken Annie’s after the reception.

A crown sometimes weighs heavily on the person wearing it, but Deringer is looking forward to a good year.

“I know that what I’m doing is for the good,” she said. “With such a group of amazing ladies standing behind me as past queens, there’s no way you can fail at this.”

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Her mother is sure that they will remain active in Azrim Temple after Deringer passes on her crown.

“We both really enjoy being in Daughters of the Nile,” Mason said. “It’s a really good cause and a bunch of great ladies. Why would you not want to be friends with these ladies? There’s no down side to it, really.”